The Veteran's right hip replacement performed by VA in March 2013 has caused chronic pain and weakness of his abductor mechanism, which was not the result of willful misconduct. The proximate cause of these additional disabilities is an unforeseen event.
The deciding factor: The additional disability resulted from an unforeseeable event (heterotopic ossification or weakness of the abductor mechanism) following VA surgical treatment
- Claimed conditions
- Chronic pain, Weakness of abductor mechanism
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 23, 2019
- Citation
- 19131335
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,874 · Granted: 33% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 19131335.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
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- Denied
The Veteran's claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder is denied.,Compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1151 for a cervical spine disorder and chronic pain caused by his surgeries is denied due to lack of fault on the part of VA in recommending or performing the procedures.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remanded the Veteran's claim for TDIU for the period prior to August 20, 2021 for extraschedular consideration by the Director of Compensation Service. Although the Veteran did not meet schedular criteria under 38 C.F.R. § 4.16(a), evidence including a private vocational expert opinion indicated he may have been unemployable due to service-connected disabilities since at least January 1, 2014.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for degenerative joint disease off the cervical spine with spinal fusion and cervical spondylosis myelo, and left upper extremity radiculopathy (claimed as left arm weakness), but denied service connection for chronic pain.
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